Minnesota officials say they’re being blocked from investigating fatal ICE shooting

DHS ad with Kristi Noem

On January 7, an ICE agent in Minneapolis shot and killed 37-year-old Renee Nicole Good, a U.S. citizen and mother of three who local officials say was acting as a legal observer during an immigration enforcement operation. According to NBC News, Minnesota’s Bureau of Criminal Apprehension has now been cut out of the investigation entirely — blocked from accessing the crime scene, video evidence, and witness interviews.

Initially, the BCA was set to conduct a joint investigation with the FBI. That afternoon, the U.S. Attorney’s Office reversed course: the FBI would lead the probe alone. Commissioner of Public Safety Bob Jacobson said state prosecutors now can’t bring charges without access to the evidence. “To be able to file state charges, we would need a full investigation, which would include the opportunity to have been at the crime scene, to have had the opportunity to take a look at all the video and evidence that the FBI would have in their possession.”

Governor Tim Walz said he’s pessimistic that a “fair outcome” will come from a federal-only investigation. DHS Secretary Kristi Noem claimed the BCA hasn’t been “cut out”—it simply has “no jurisdiction.”

The federal and local accounts of the shooting diverge sharply. DHS called Good a “violent rioter” who “weaponized her vehicle” in “an act of domestic terrorism.” Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey called that characterization “bullshit.” Walz told Minnesotans not to believe what he described as a “propaganda machine.”